Wednesday, April 9, 2025

It is the 9th of April 2025. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org; I’m Dan van Voorhis.

 

It’s here! CHA2k is in the books and now in your ears- tomorrow, we have the live show at noon Pacific. Come with your questions about anything- go to https://1517.org/chacelebrate to sign up and get the tote bag, and this is the last self-promotion I’ve been doing for a long time. And on this episode, the one we’ve been counting down to, what do we talk about?

Well, for 2000 shows now, we have been telling the stories of various people, many of whom are made officially or unofficially “patron saints”- a term used in common parlance to mean symbolic figures not necessarily prayed to or through… and some of them have been kinda funny- St. Drogo both the patron saint of ugly people and coffeehouses, it is said he could bilocate- be in two places a once and thus something-something caffeine and being able to do more than most? And he suffered an unknown disfiguring illness.

St Vitus is the patron saint of the comedians and dancers and epilepsy (yikes!), but this also makes him the patron saint of Rheumatic Chorea- either an aunt to Cheating Carlos or also called “St. Vitus Dance” a kind of hurry-jerky spasm.

And comedians have plenty of patron saints- St. Lawrence is the patron saint of comedians and cooks- he was allegedly put to death by being cooked on an open flame and at one point told his executioner to turn him over, as he was done on that side… make sure to tip your waitresses.

Lawrence is the patron saint of Librarians and archivists- so he could be the CHA patron saint. The patron saint of historians is the Venerable Bede, but he’s probably got a big enough head as it is- getting “Venerable” added to his name.  

Of course St. Luke is the first Church historian and his gospel and Acts give us the very reports that our faith and the early church was built upon. But the period right after the close of the New Testament received less attention. In part this is on account of many of the first Christians thinking that the end was near and not seeing the need for a record for posterity.

Enter the man who is rightly called the Father of Church history and the patron saint of the CHA: Eusebius of Caesarea, who lived from 260-339, just around the time it looked like the Lord may tarry awhile, around the time of the Diocletian persecutions and then the rise of Constantine and the “triumph” of Christianity leading into the first council at Nicaea in 325. Eusebius thought that future generations of the church- the extended family tree- might benefit from a family storyteller. His 10 volume, “Church History,” gives us the story of the church from the apostles up to 324 on the eve of the first ecumenical council. Not only was it popular in its original Koine Greek (same as the New Testament), it was translated into Coptic and Armenian, Latin, and Syrian. XX It remains the source for much that was at the famed library at Caesarea that no longer exists- he is the reason we know of so many early church controversies and developments up until the time when it all changed with Constantine and his narrative approach to church history became the standard for all subsequent generations. Also- he was complicated- he loved the erstwhile Origen and was much more favorable to Arius and the Arians than later Orthodox Christians. He was very cozy with the new Emperor Constantine and helped with some of the early church/state propaganda, which made some uncomfortable. I think the fact that he is not unassailable makes him valuable as we have to learn how to read and understand a human author giving us their best version of what happened and not divine commands about how to read history from on high- for that reason as well as being the father of church history I name Eusebius of Caesarea the patron saint of the Christian history almanac here on show CHA2k- hope to see you at the live show tomorrow, or be on the lookout for the video and audio recording of it and send me your questions at danv@1517.org.

 

The Last word for today comes from the daily lectionary and Psalm 20.

May the Lord answer you when you are in distress;
    may the name of the God of Jacob protect you.

May he send you help from the sanctuary

    and grant you support from Zion.

May he remember all your sacrifices

    and accept your burnt offerings.

May he give you the desire of your heart

    and make all your plans succeed.

May we shout for joy over your victory

    and lift up our banners in the name of our God.

May the Lord grant all your requests.

Now this I know:

    The Lord gives victory to his anointed.


He answers him from his heavenly sanctuary

    with the victorious power of his right hand.

Some trust in chariots and some in horses,

    but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.

They are brought to their knees and fall,

    but we rise up and stand firm.

Lord, give victory to the king!

    Answer us when we call!

 

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 9th of April 2025 brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

The show is produced by a man awaiting someone to make him a Wikipedia detailing 2000 episodes of fascinating facts about his life he didn’t always know about- he is Christopher Gillespie.

The show is written and read by a man who cannot promise he won’t be hosting the live show in a bathrobe with unkempt hair… it’s my natural habitat for this- I’m Dan van Voorhis.

You can catch us here every day- and remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness, and the redemption of all things are true…. Everything is going to be ok.